


rumor has it

by sweet_caroline



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dancer Jaemin, Dancer Jeno, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, dancer renjun, kind of, renjun is vv misunderstood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-16 01:53:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16944747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweet_caroline/pseuds/sweet_caroline
Summary: Jeno and Jaemin have been together since high school, as boyfriends, and as dance partners, but when their dance instructor pairs them up with another kid their duo is suddenly turned into a trio.Rumors about Renjun have been swirling ever since he got a full ride to college for ballet, but Jeno and Jaemin may just end up believing them.





	1. my boy(s)

**Author's Note:**

> so first and foremost i want to apologize to every dancer out there who is expecting proper terminology  
> i quit dance classes when i was twelve so if it sounds like i have no idea what i'm talking about in this fic it's probably cause i don't  
> but anyways enjoy!

“I just don’t get why I have to do this. I mean come on I danced ballet for three years in high school.” Jaemin complained stealing a fry off his boyfriend's plate. They were currently in the cafeteria after their 10 a.m. hip-hop class where their teacher had paired two people in their class up with some ballet dancer and told them to have a ballet number ready for the showcase that was only two months away. It was supposed to teach them good technique or something apparently.

“Ah yes, Jaemin the great ballerina.” Jeno laughed at his boyfriend's dramatic complaints. “It’s just one dance, besides think of how lucky we got. Taeyong could’ve been a jerk and paired us up himself again.”

“Yeah I guess, but who even is this Renjun guy? I’ve never heard of him.” Jaemin complained. They had been able to pick somebody in their class to work with, but apparently, Taeyong was pretty close with the ballet instructor and they specifically paired up the two classes so they would work well together.

“Have you heard of any of the other people on the list?”

“I guess not, but I just think if they wanted us to do ballet they could at least torture the ballet majors too and make them do hip hop as well. I mean it’s only fair.”

“Yo, what are you guys bitching about today?” Lucas sat down in the seat across the table from them, Mark right beside him.

“Our dance teacher paired us up with some ballet kids and is making us perform with together at the showcase in December.” Jaemin rolled his eyes.

“Ouch,” Mark grimaced. “Do you at least know who you got paired up with?”

“Some kid named Renjun apparently.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Lucas stopped them. “You don’t mean Huang Renjun do you?”

“Um, yeah I think that was the name on the list,” Jeno said. “Wait why? What have you heard about him?”

“Dude I had a friend who took a ballet class last semester and got paired up with this Renjun kid. Apparently, he’s a total bitch. He came here from China on a full ride scholarship so apparently, he thinks he’s like hot shit or something.” Lucas said sipping his cup of tea. “He like barely talks to anyone and is always leaving classes and practices before they’re done and showing up late constantly.”

“Ugh,” Jeno groaned. “And we just had to get stuck with him for this dumb project.”

“Hey I thought you weren’t upset about this project, you just told me I was being too dramatic about it.” Jaemin pouted.

“Yeah but that was before I realized we got stuck with the worst dance partner ever.”

***

 **Jeno** added **Jaemin** and **Renjun** to **Dance Project Partners**

 **Jeno**  
Hi Renjun, this is Jeno one of your dance partners  
Me and Jaemin were hoping we could meet up at some point tomorrow to introduce ourselves and set up some practice times for our dance and maybe talk about some song choices

 **Renjun**  
Hiiiii~  
I’m really sorry, but tomorrow is a really busy day for me.  
Is there any other day that would work for you guys?

 **Jaemin**  
Well we were hoping to get started as soon as possible  
Also tomorrow's Thursday and me and Jen have classes on Friday and kind of already have plans afterward

 **Jeno**  
Is there any way you can make tomorrow work  
Kind of inconvenient for us if you can’t

 **Renjun**  
Oh well, I’m really sorry, but I have a class first thing in the morning, and then I work the afternoon and night shift tomorrow. So there’s really no opening in my schedule.  
Sorry, if you wanted to come to the campus coffee shop between noon and five we could probably meet on my break.

 **Jaemin**  
K

 **Renjun**  
Ok sounds like a plan, really sorry for the inconvenience.

***

Renjun sighed putting his phone down on the couch next to him turning back to the conversation between Donghyuck and Jungwoo. They were hanging out in Donghyuck’s dorm room in the two-hour block they all had off on Wednesdays before Renjun has to go to his regular shift at the local grocery store and his two friends have a late afternoon vocal class.

“Hey, what’s wrong,” Jungwoo asked both him and Hyuck looking at him with concern.

“What do you mean?”

“You just sighed your “I’m so sad and tired please help me sigh” and you’ve kinda seemed upset all day,” Hyuck said his voice laced with concern.

“Oh, well this morning Ten told us that our class is being paired up with another hip-hop class to choreograph a number for the recital in December and my partners just texted me.”

“Wait, but that actually sounds pretty cool. Why do you seem so upset, you get to dance with people other than the assholes in your class?”

“I was excited to dance with new people, but they just texted me and they already seem to hate me,” Renjun choked out upset that the kids in his class had probably already spread some rumors about him to his dance partners and now they hate him without ever actually meeting him. Renjun didn’t know why his class seemed to hate him so much, but ever since the beginning of the year they had been spreading nasty rumors about him and blatantly talking shit about him when he was within hearing distance. He was just glad that Hyuck and Jungwoo were music majors so they didn’t seem to hate him as much as the dancers seemed to.

“How can you tell they hate you over text,” Jungwoo tilted his head.

“It’s just that they really wanted to meet tomorrow, and you guys know how busy I am on Thursdays, but they were pretty adamant about it. So, I told them we could meet at the cafe during my break, but he just texted back “k”. So, he's probably upset with me.”

“Well that doesn’t mean they hate you, maybe they’re just really busy,” Hyuck suggested.

“Maybe, but what if they're just like all the other kids in my class?”

“Renjun, just don’t overthink it. You’re an amazing dancer and person and I’m sure your partners will see that too. Besides if they don’t think you’re a good person to hell with them. Renjun you are my best friend and you’re amazing please don’t get upset, they don’t deserve you.” Jungwoo said pulling the boy into a tight embrace.

“Thanks guys, you’re the best, but um, my shift starts in like fifteen minutes so I should really probably go now.”

“Ok. Bye, love you.” Jungwoo said helping him pick up his stuff around Huyck's dorm room.

“Love you too.”

"And remember to stay positive," Hyuck yelled at him as he closed the door behind him. 

***

“Are you sure this is the right place?” Jaemin asked turning to look at the sign above the door. “I’ve never heard of Neo Culture.”

“Yes, Jaemin this is it. The kid said he worked at the coffee shop on campus and this is the only one.”

“Did you text him and tell him what time we were coming? It’s one in the afternoon isn’t that like rush hour or something?”

“No, I didn’t,” Jeno answered, but now that he thought about it maybe a heads up would’ve been a good idea. “He said to come any time between noon and five so we should be fine.”

The two boys walked inside to find the coffee shop rather modern, and unfortunately very busy. There was a black, grey and white color scheme with dashes of neon green around. Behind the counter were two boys both in the same apron, but the one at the cash register was significantly taller. There was also a pretty long line at the counter and Jeno and Jaemin got in the back. If they had to talk to this dance kid at his job the least they could do was get some decent coffee.

It wasn’t too long before they reached the front of the line and were greeted with a rather loud, “Hi, I’m Johnny what can I get for you guys today?”

“Oh, um, we're supposed to talk to a Renjun?” Jaemin asked.

“Oh yeah, he told me about you guys, dance right? It’ll take him a minute to make the last couple orders, but can I get you guys anything while you wait?”

“Just black coffee please,” Jeno ordered, Johnny nodding his head turning to Jaemin for his order.

“Venti iced americano with four extra espresso shots,” Jaemin pretended to ignore Johnny raising his eyebrow at his order.

“Ok that’ll be six dollars and forty-eight cents,” Johnny said as Jeno took out his wallet.

“You can keep the change,” Jeno said handing the money over to the boy behind the counter.

“Ok thanks, I’ll have Renjun take your order out to you in a minute. Have a nice day.”

“Thanks, you too.”

The couple made their way over to an empty table in the back. Taking their seats they turned their attention back to the two boys behind the counter, Johnny was talking to the smaller male, Renjun apparently, before pointing over to their table. The boy nodded before turning back to the coffee machine on the counter beside him and seemingly starting to make their orders.

It was only minutes later when two cups of coffee were placed on their table and a small frame took up one of the empty seats at their table.

“Hi, sorry for the wait. It’s nice to meet you, I’m Renjun.” Both boys could admit that Renjun was cute. His soft facial features and his dark black hair were cute, not to mention the adorable snaggletooth showcased in the small smile on his lips. Neo Culture also must not have a uniform because under the neon green apron the boy was wearing an oversized pastel sweater tucked into his black shorts. So, yeah he was cute.

“Nice to meet you Renjun, I’m Jeno.”

“And I’m Jaemin.”

“I’m really sorry for having us meet here, but Thursdays are just kinda hectic for me. Also, my brakes only twenty minutes so we don't have a lot of time, but I might be able to talk Johnny into extending it”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jeno said taking a sip of his coffee. “This meeting isn’t super important. Our teacher just wants us to start practices as soon as possible and we wanted to talk music before we got started.”

“Oh ok,” Renjun said playing with the ends of his sleeves. “Well if you wanted to talk song choices we could probably pick one out now.”

“Did you have any in mind?” Jaemin asked, he and Jeno had been talking about doing a romantic song, but they didn’t know if Renjun would be comfortable with that.

“Well it has to be ballet, but it doesn’t have to be like a classical song. What about an artist like Troye Sivan or Billie Eilish?” Renjun always felt embarrassed talking about his music preferences, but he’s always wanted to perform to one of his favorite artists.

“That could work,” Jeno said as Jaemin nodded his head. “Were you thinking of doing a more romantic vibe to the dance?"

“Oh, well, I guess kind of,” Renjun blushed. “But only if you’re ok with that of course.”

“Well me and Jaemin are dating so it’d probably have a romantic vibe either way.”

“Wait really you guys are dating? That’s so cool, and you’re dance partners?”

“Yeah it’s pretty great,” Jaemin said looking at his boyfriend. “So which song is your favorite?”

“Do you guys know any Troye Sivan songs?” Renjun asked not wanting them to think he was trying to pick out the song all by himself. “Or Billie Eilish? But it doesn’t have to be those two if you guys have another song in mind we can use it. I don't want to seem like I'm trying to take over all the decisions. I just really like those artist and I thought - oh sorry I’m rambling aren’t I?”

“It’s ok,” Jeno laughed. “And I know a few songs by them, but me and Jaem can listen to some and pick out our favorites and then we can make the final choice at our first practice.”

“Ok sounds good.” Renjun smiled before there was a faint yelling of his name coming from an impatient looking Johnny behind the counter with a long line in front of him. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry but I should probably go.”

“Don’t sweat it, we’ll text you either tonight or tomorrow to work out practice times, ok?” Jaemin asked.

“Ok, well it was great meeting you,” Renjun said pushing his chair in and smiling at the two of them.

“Nice meeting you too,” The two boys said starting to get up as well.

Renjun gave them a final wave as they walked out the door of the cafe and were met with the outside air the sun shining brightly down on the pair.

“He didn’t seem like a bitch at all,” Jeno said taking his boyfriends hand as they started walking back to their apartment.

“Yeah, I have no idea what Lucas was talking about. He was pretty cute honestly.”

“Very cute,” Jeno agreed.


	2. (carry) you home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeno and Jaemin may or may not be falling in love, but their friends definitely aren't helping.

**Jeno**  
Hey Renjun we picked a song

 **Renjun**  
Yay!  
Do you want to start practicing tomorrow?  
I’m free every Sunday after Noon.

 **Jaemin**  
Cool  
Practice room 3 at 1?

 **Renjun**  
Works for me, see you there!

***

Renjun had shown up at practice room number three at 12:30 sharp. He knew he was early, but he didn’t want to be late and give his new dance partners a reason to dislike him. He knew he had time to kill so he took out his sketch pad and some pencils and started to draw.

“Oh my god,” Jaemin whispered looking through the window of the practice room and pulling on Jeno’s hoodie so he wouldn’t open the door.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“Look, he’s sooooo cute,” Jaemin whined pointing at the small boy through the window.

Both of the boys took their time admiring the sight in front of them. Renjun was practically being swallowed by his baby pink hoodie, black spandex shorts barely peeking out from the hem. He had white tights covering his legs and the tiniest pair of white converse on his feet.

“Aw, he’s so cute,” Jeno cooed. “Is he drawing?”

“Yeah, oh a dancer and an artist. Jeno I think I love him.”

“Come on, we're going to be late if we keep ogling him.”

As soon as he heard the door creak open Renjun snapped his sketchpad closed. Realizing it was Jeno and Jaemin a smile broke out across his face. “Hi!” He chirped standing up and facing the two boys.

“Hey, have you been waiting long?” Jeno asked tilting his head.

“No, not all. So what song did you choose?” Renjun asked he’d been curious all week hoping the other two boys would like the artists he’d suggested.

“Hostage by Billie Eilish, but only if you’re ok with it?” Jeno said, nervous about choosing a song that Renjun wouldn't like. 

“Yes, yes I love that song. I tried to choreograph a dance to it in high school, but my group decided to go with a different song instead. So, I tried to choreograph a solo to it, but then I had like these lifts envisioned in the choreography. Which obviously doesn’t work for a solo - Oh. I’m rambling again sorry,” Renjun blushed breaking eye contact with the two boys to focus his attention back on his shoes. “Um, yes, I like the song.”

“It’s fine, ramble all you want. It’s cute,” Jaemin spoke only causing Renjun to blush harder.

“Have you warmed up yet?” Jeno asked sitting down to change his shoes.

“Oh no, I thought I would wait for you guys. I didn’t know if hip-hop stretches are different from ballet and I didn’t want you to skip something and end up hurt.” Renjun took off his converse, reaching into his pink dance bag to grab the black shoes that he usually wore during his modern dance class. “Oh, speaking of ballet. My teacher said since it’s kind of impossible to be ballet trained in two months. So instead they said we can just do like a modern contemporary style dance with a couple ballet elements.”

“Oh thank god,” Jaemin groaned. “I haven’t danced ballet in like two years and I know for a fact that Jeno can’t do a pirouette to save his life.”

“Hey, you just said last week that my turns were good,” Jeno screeched causing Renjun to giggle.

Both boys turned to look at the boy still tying the bows on his shoes. God, they had been blessed with the cutest dancer on the Earth. They should really do something to thank Taeyong later.

***

“Dude, I’m telling you your friend was totally wrong about Renjun,” Jaemin spoke stealing some chips out of the bowl in Lucas’ lap. Jeno, Jaemin, Lucas, and Mark were all at the oldest's apartment to watch some crappy movie that they had all stopped paying attention to long ago.

“What do you mean? I thought he was supposed to be some horrible person, why aren’t you complain like you always do?” Lucas laughed.

“Ok, first of all, Renjun is the human embodiment of an angel. He’s adorable, smart, a great dancer, and did I mention adorable?”

“And he’s got a great ass,” Jaemin added causing Jeno to smack him in the back of the head.

“So not a bitch?” Mark asked. “What about all the rumors?”

“What rumors?” Both Jeno and Jaemin asked at the same time.

“Ok, we’re just going to look past how creepy that was. So you know how he has a full ride scholarship? Well pretty much everyone I’ve talked to said he got it by sleeping with the admissions director while underaged and then threatening to tell the cops if he didn’t give him the scholarship.”

“What, no, no way. You have to be thinking of the wrong person.” Jeno shook his head.

“Dude, the college only gives out like five full rides a year who else would I be talking about?” Mark scoffed. “Besides you’ve only had one practice with him, I doubt you know all of his dirty secrets.”

“Nope, not Renjun he’s too cute to do something like that,” Jaemin said defending the smaller boy from his friend's scrutiny.

“That’s probably how he got a middle-aged man to sleep with him,” Lucas laughed. “And I mean have you seen the way he dresses. The short shorts and thigh highs? If that doesn’t scream slut I don’t know what does.”

“Ok, first of all, Lucas did you even hear what you just said? You sounded like a total asshole. And Mark it’s a rumor, stop believing everything you hear, and don’t talk about Renjun like that. You guys don’t even know him.” Jaemin just about shouted as Jeno nodded along.

“Jesus calm down,” Lucas scoffed, turning his attention back to the movie know that the mood in the room had turned sour.

“If I didn’t know you guys were dating I’d think you were in love with the kid,” Mark laughed from beside them.

***

Renjun hated ballet class. Actually, that’s not right, Renjun loved ballet, he just hated the people in his class, but to be fair they hated him first. He had tried so hard to make friends in his class, but when he had first moved from China his Korean had been iffy and he was too shy to just put himself out there. For some reason, his class had taken that as him being a bitch and it was much too late now to change their minds.

His class had been civil at first but ever since Ten had announced that he would be the lead in the dance they’re performing at the winter recital they had been trash talking him left in right. Sometimes it was to his face, sometimes behind his back, but still very much within hearing distance.

Most of the torments also included his preference for dancing the girls part in their numbers. It wasn’t anything to do with his gender, Renjun was very much comfortable being a male, but ever since he was little he loved dancing pointe and it wasn’t just because he always dropped the girls he was supposed to lift. The girls in his class hated him for it though, probably because if Ten had just given him one of the male roles they might have gotten the lead.

“Alright guys one more time,” Ten’s voice rang out over the heavy breathing, Renjun’s included.

They had gotten through a little over half of the dance before one of the boys in his class had dropped Renjun out of a particularly difficult lift. He had always been trained to just get back up and keep dancing but as soon as he put weight on his left foot he crumpled back to the ground sharp stabs of pain shooting through his ankle. The rest of the class kept on dancing obviously ignoring Renjun still on the ground, but as soon as Ten noticed the music was abruptly cut off.

“Renjun, hey what’s wrong,” His teacher had made his way across the room in record-breaking time obviously concerned that one of his students was hurt.

“Ankle, it hurts,” Renjun gritted his teeth.

“Somebody go get me some ice,” Ten called out over his shoulder. “Hopefully it’s just a strain.”

The rest of the class seemed to take Renjun’s injury as the class being over as they started to pack up their bags. Renjun heard some of his classmates complaining about how “fragile” he was and how they hoped it was broken so they could have his spot in the dance. His classmates comments almost hurt more than the injury itself. Thankfully though one of his classmates still had a heart and had found one of the ice pack’s from the first aid kit they always kept in the classroom.

Ten thanked the girl and then turned to Renjun placing the ice onto his ankle feeling awful at the soft whimper of pain that came from the small boy. “Can one of you help me carry him to the nurse down the-” Ten cut off when he turned around to find the classroom empty besides the two of them.

“Ok, Renjun can you wait here for a sec? My boyfriend is teaching a class across the hall and I'll go see if one of them can help me ok?”

Once his teacher left the room Renjun finally let go of the tears he had been holding in since the pain started coursing through his ankle. When he heard the door open he realized it would be futile to try and stop crying now. He didn’t expect to see Jeno and Jaemin following behind his teacher though.

“Oh my god, Renjun are you ok?” Jaemin asked, both him and Renjun crouching down in front of him.

“He hurt his ankle during practice, I need you two to take him to the infirmary for me.”

“Yeah, yeah of course,” Jeno said already lifting the boy up bridal style causing Renjun to gasp at the pain. “Sorry, sorry I should’ve warned you.”

“It’s ok,” Renjun whispered, tucking his face into Jeno’s shoulder to hide the tears still streaming down his face. “Jaemin can you please grab my stuff.”

“Yeah, it’s the pink duffle bag right?”

Renjun nodded, “And um, my jacket is over there.” He said vaguely pointing to the corner of the practice room.

“Is that everything?” Jeno asked. Renjun just nodded in response.

“Please take care of him, he’s my star student,” Ten said, wary of leaving his hurt student with two boys he had never met before, even if he was the one who assigned them as dance partners, but Renjun looked like he was in good hands so he had to trust the two of them.

“Of course, we’d never let anything happen to him.”

***

Jeno and Jaemin had gotten Renjun to the nurse safely and stayed with him throughout the whole visit. Even letting him squeeze their hands when the nurse tried to move his ankle making Renjun want to scream from the pain. Luckily it was just a sprain, the nurse said it would be fully healed in about a week, but he wasn’t allowed to walk on it for the next two days and he would have to sit out practices until next week as well. Renjun wasn’t happy that he had to sit out, but he was thankful the injury hadn’t been any worse and he would still be able to dance in the recital. 

Jeno and Jaemin were to carry him back to his dorm room too since he had been told he couldn't walk himself. This time he was in Jaemin’s arms while Jeno carried his bag and his pointe shoes that had still been on his feet when they brought him to the nurse in the first place.

“I’m sorry about having to miss our practices,” Renjun said about two minutes into their silent walk.

“Hey, it’s not your fault you got hurt,” Jaemin said looking down at the small boy in his arms.

“Yeah, it’s the kid who dropped you who should feel bad.”

“Still, we’ve only practiced together once and we only have a couple weeks until the recital to choreograph and practice this dance,” Renjun pouted, adorably might Jeno add.

“Don’t worry about it, we can choreograph this week without having you actually doing the moves and then fix it next week if it doesn't look right.”

“Yeah, I guess that will work,” Renjun sighed. “Oh wait this is my building.”

“What floor?” Jeno asked as they made their way into the building and towards the elevator.

“Third floor, room 345.”

They stayed silent throughout the elevator ride, ignoring the weird looks the boy in the elevator gave them.

“That room,” Renjun said pointing to a door about halfway down the corridor once they got out of the elevator at his floor.

“Where’s your key?” Jeno asked, starting to open Renjun’s bag.

“Oh, there’s a little polka dot makeup bag in the front pocket it should be in there somewhere.”

“Found it,” Jeno smiled pulling out the small key and opening the door to Renjun’s dorm.

Renjun was lucky enough to have a single dorm, but it still wasn’t very nice. Just big enough to fit a bed, a desk, and a small dresser, there was one door to the right that led to a bathroom. There was also a little mini fridge with a microwave on top that Hyuck had gifted him when he moved from his dorm room to an apartment, knowing that Renjun would never have been able to afford them on his own.

“Sorry it’s kinda messy, I wasn’t really planning on anybody coming over,” Renjun blushed, embarrassed about the cluttered desk and his mass of clothing littered across the floor.

Jeno and Jaemin just laughed, pretending not to notice the small boys underwear on the ground next to his bed as they set him down. Though Renjun did seem them causing him to blush deeply and try to unsuccessfully hide them under the bed frame. 

“Do you need anything before we go? We don’t want you to try and get it yourself and end up even more hurt.” Jeno asked, scared to leave the injured boy alone.

“No, I’m ok. Thank you for helping me though.”

“Of course any time,” Jaemin smiled. “Though please try not to get injured again.”

“I’ll do my best,” Renjun giggled, causing the other two’s heart to skip a beat he was just so freaking cute. “See you later.”

Both boys said their goodbyes before leaving the room, closing the door behind them.

“Jeno would you break up with me if I told you I kind of want to kiss him.”

“Nope, I wanted to kiss the hell out of him too. I mean did you see how cute he looked in his little pink ballet shoes,” Jeno gushed.

“I knew there was a reason I was dating you,” Jaemin grinned, grabbing onto his boyfriend's hand to pull him towards the elevator. “Come on, Taeyong is still expecting us to come back to class.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my friends and i went to our local animal shelter last night and adopted a two month old husky  
> his name is akeyla  
> this is my life now

**Author's Note:**

> constructive criticism would be appreciated  
> but please be gentle :)


End file.
